Posts Tagged ‘clarinet’

How’s it Going?

Posted in Blog, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 22, 2019| Leave a Comment »


As some of you will know, we moved to the Isle of Wight at the end of 2018.  My wife had to stay in Leicester to finish off at her job, but finally moved over permanently 2 weeks ago.  She started her new job here on Monday and has survived the first week, in pretty sound condition.

For me, I am building my business back up. This includes attracting new students, talking to venues about possible gigs, busking, workshops and networking meetings.

So far, I have started working with 2 local students doing face to face lessons.  I have also  kept some of my Leicestershire and Rutland students by using Facetime and Skype (this is working really well).  I have also just booked a trial lesson for an adult clarinettist.  I am running a workshop for a local Saxophone ensemble in March along with giving a presentation about wedding music to a group of Brides to be at a networking workshop run by a local wedding co-ordinator.

Tonight, I am playing at Cowes Golf Club for a social evening, and next month I am playing at a Yacht Club in Cowes for their Jazz evening.

So things are moving in the right direction for us.

If you would like to talk about lessons for yourself or a friend, via Skype or Facetime or face to face, then please get in touch or pass on my details.

 

Many thanks

 

DaveIMG_20150409_210607

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Gift Voucher updated

Posted in Lessons, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2019| Leave a Comment »


Gift Screen grab 3

Occasionally I get asked about lessons as a present for someone’s Birthday or Christmas, so we have been providing gift vouchers for those requests over the last 10 years.

I just wanted to share with you, the new updated voucher that we have produced.  Pretty smart, even though I say so myself.

Vouchers can be bought for a certain amount of lessons and the card tells the recipient how many that is, not the amount of money that you have spent.

Different designs can be printed.

Lessons can be 30 or 60 minutes long.  The Student then contacts me to arrange a suitable time for those lessons.

Lessons can be Face to Face or via Skype or Facetime, whichever suits the student.

The cards have space for you to personalise them, and are posted to you for giving.

If you have someone who has expressed an interest in learning, then this is a great way to surprise them.

My number is 07736 471 861 or dave.saxteach@yahoo.co.uk

I look forward to hearing from you

 

Dave

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Scales are like Marmite, you either love them or hate them.

Posted in Lessons, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on January 30, 2019| Leave a Comment »


So which side of the fence are you on regarding scales?  Personally, I love them.

They are like musical vegetables, you should take in at least 7 a day!

A lot of players see them as a chore and don’t see the benefit of learning them.  I can understand that thought, especially as some students who take grades, don’t have it explained to them what connection they have to the pieces they are learning, so therefore its just another thing to try and learn to help pass their grade.

I did a trial lesson with an adult player a few years ago.  He had been playing for a good few years and played in various groups locally.  I asked him to start off the session with a G scale over one octave, playing nice and slowly as I wanted to listen to his tone.

He made a few attempts and gave up, with the explanation that he was a ‘Jazzman!’ and was used to improvising.  So we tried another scale with the same result and reason.

However I tried to break it down and help him through it, he just came back with the same reason.   Now the reason I find this a bit odd, is because to play Jazz well, you must know your scales, and normally a lot more scales and different ways to play them than a classical musician may do, as this is how you improvise.

What I have worked out over the years is that each piece is written in its own dialect of the same language.  In other words, music is the language and each key is a different dialect.  The notes within that key that make up the scale are really the letters of the alphabet that is used within that dialect.

Learning the alphabet allows us to spell words, learning words allows us to make phrases and sentences, learning sentences allows us to make paragraphs, and learning paragraphs allows us to tell stories.  That is what we try and do when we play music, we tell stories through our instrument.  So most of the good musical story tellers know their scales, because they see the benefit to their art.

I am going to leave this here for now, but I will be coming back to the subject of scales, and looking at how different people remember them and how different people teach them.

 

Davewp-image-59582707jpg.jpeg

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What’s coming up?

Posted in Blog, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 11, 2019| Leave a Comment »


As you know, we moved to the Isle of Wight at the end of November.  As with most moves, there is a lot too do, with packing, cleaning, moving, more cleaning, decorating and unpacking to contend with.

Plus, once you are at your new home, especially being self employed, there is the task of getting your business back up and running.

I was lucky enough to bring some of my original students with me via Skype and Facetime lessons, and these are working very well.

I then contacted some players that had attended previous StaxofSax workshops with me, explaining that lessons can now be done remotely, and 2 more have now joined me regularly.  Through advertising on Facebook groups, I have taken on 2 local students and I have been posting cards in shop windows this week.  I still have space for a few more students either face to face or Remotely so please feel free to get in touch.

Busking has been going well in both Shanklin and Ventnor, and hopefully later today, I will go and play in Ryde.  A very kind lady bought me a hot chocolate yesterday as it was very cold busking.

I am exhibiting at the Wight Bridal Wedding Show at the Medina Sports centre on the 27th of January, so why not pop along for a chat about your wedding music.

I have my first wedding of the year on the 2nd of February, and definitely looking forward to that.

I will be playing at 2 local residential and day care centres in the next few weeks, these are great fun, and we always have a good singalong too.

The business is steadily moving forward and growing, which is great. Ohh nearly forgot….. we also live in the best place in the world!Screenshot_20171228-084841

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Latest Advert

Posted in Lessons, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on January 8, 2019| Leave a Comment »


I Have been out and about today, putting postcards in shop windows.  This is with the aim of increasing the number of students that I work with and spreading the love of making music.

 

If you fancy learning how to play or improve with the either the Saxophone or Clarinet, then please contact me for a chat.

Open to all ages from 7 yrs upwards.

 

Feel free to share this post with anyone that may be interested.

 

Many thanks

 

Davesax postcard 2

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Lessons both Remote and face to face.

Posted in Lessons, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2018| Leave a Comment »


Yesterday I met up with my first new local student in Ryde.  Like me, she moved to the island only 3 weeks ago, and wanted to restart having clarinet lessons.  She has been playing for about 10 years and has reached a good standard, but took a break recently with moving house and looking for employment.

We had a good lesson and spent a lot of it, just getting her lip back into shape and working out how each of us work.  We are arranging further lessons in between Christmas and the New Year, and I am looking forward to helping her carry on making good progress and having fun at the same time.

The remote lessons via Skype and FaceTime are going well and the signal here is very good.

Someone said  recently that it is the  modern equivalent of Short wave radio school lessons that used to happen in places like the outback of Australia or Africa, when people lived to far away from schools to travel.

I think this is definitely the way forward, as it allows you to work with the teacher that you want, rather than having to work with someone purely because they are local, and for some students it means being able to have lessons rather than struggling on your own if there is no one local.IMG-8967

What do you think?  Why not get in touch to see if I can help you?

 

Best wishes

 

Dave

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Lessons update

Posted in Lessons, tagged , , , , , , , on December 14, 2018| Leave a Comment »


Since moving to Shanklin at the end of November, my teaching has been on hold, what with unpacking and decorating the music room etc.

last night I started to get back into the swing of things with a FaceTime lesson with one of my Leicester students.  With a remote lesson you have to be organised, making sure that you know what you are going to cover before the lesson starts, so that both parties have the music in front of them.  I make notes as the lesson goes on and then email them to the student for them to use during practice during the week.

I have another couple of remote lessons today and I am looking forward to them.

I also have my first Island student starting this morning and I will be speaking to another over the weekend to arrange when they can start.

Now the music room is decorated and then new carpet is being laid next week, I am looking forward to getting it laid out ready for lessons and recording.

Have a great weekend and keep practicing.

 

Dave

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Teaching update.

Posted in Blog, tagged , , , , , , , on August 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »


I first got back into a music career about 9 years ago after trying other forms of employment for about 11 years.  I had been doing a couple of lessons a week privately to earn some extra cash and had really been enjoying them.  So Carole and I had a chat about it and made plans to try and make music once again my full time job.

She was brilliant, she spent all of her lunch hours for weeks researching schools details, she helped me  rewrite my C.V and she typed up a covering letter and address labels.

We then spent a couple of days putting all of this into packs including prepaid return envelopes, and sent them off to schools in Leicestershire and the surrounding counties.  A lot of the replies that came back where via email which was great because its quicker and some by post.  The replies where normally that the school had no vacancies at the moment but that they wished me luck and would keep my details on file.  One did lead to 8 years of regular work and I still return weekly to teach a sax lesson now.

So, for the last 9 years I have been a full time teacher of Saxophone and Clarinet (and even a small amount of flute) and really enjoy it.

If you are looking for a teacher then please feel free to contact me for a chat and lets make some music.

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